China-Bashers Rejoice: Chinese Tourist Arrivals Drop 20% In October

Published on 22nd November 2018 by Stickboy BKK

It’s not your imagination: There are a lot fewer Chinese about washing their feet in sinks and taking dumps on sidewalks.

The Tourism and Sports Ministry said Wednesday at only 646,000 Chinese tourists arrived in Thailand, down a whopping 19.8% year-on-year. They spent “only” 34.6 billion baht, down 16.5% from October last year.

Worry not, however, as mainlanders remain by far the largest group of foreign visitors to the Land of Smirks. Russians ranked sixth and Americans seventh.

Overall, Thailand saw 2.71 million international arrivals durin the month, down a half-percent from the same month last year. Of those, 1.2 million were tourists from all the other East Asian countries except the People’s Republic of China.

Only a total 860,000 came from Europe, the Americas, Oceania, the Middle East and Africa.

For the year, total arrivals are up 7.8% to 31.3 million. Of those, 9.2 million – or 29% – were Chinese.

The plunge in Chinese tourists stems from July’s deadly Phuket boat sinkings in which 47 Chinese died, as well as the subsequent Thai PR blunders, such as Bangkok airport officials caught on video trying to slap a mainlander.